Karolina Pliskova, the number two seed from the Czech Republic, will look to halt Elena Rybakina’s sensational run when the pair meet in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Thursday, Feburary 20. The match will start at 2 pm local time (11 am BST). You can find the Karolina Pliskova v Elena Rybakina live streaming options along with itiss preview, head to head and tips here.
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Karolina Pliskova v Elena Rybakina Head to Head
This will be a first meeting between Pliskova and the new World No.19 Elena Rybakina.
Pliskova Made Light Work Of Mladenovic in Previous Round
After Tuesday’s madness in which three of the highest-seeded players in the tournament departed, including the newly-crowned Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and the reigning Dubai champion Belinda Bencic, the second seed Karolina Pliskova brought about a normalcy to proceedings on a hot, sunny afternoon on Wednesday.
Pliskova, the 2015 Dubai runner-up, eased Kristina Mladenovic, the qualifier from France in two, one-sided sets to book her spot in the quarterfinals.
The Czech who is synonymous for holding one of the best serving stats in the women’s game, was well below her best in that department and needed to make use of her limited array of resources to beat Mladenovic for the second time this season.
Pliskova is now eyeing a semifinal berth at these parts for the first time since losing the 2015 final to Simona Halep, and is also seeking a second Premier title of 2020 after winning the Brisbane International title at the start of last month.
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Rybakina’s Incredible Form Showing No Signs Of Abating
It is hard to overlook Elena Rybakina’s meteoric rise at this minute. She is the WTA’s in-form player in 2020 with a solid 16-3 record. She is the tour-leader in terms of match-wins, aces, and three set wins this year.
The latest of her comeback wins came against the Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in a blockbuster first round encounter. Much to Rybakina’s credit for digging out that stunning upset was the quick turnaround of events after losing the St. Petersburg final last Sunday. She would travel almost immediately to Dubai and had just a day’s rest to prepare.
Instead, there were no signs that she would suffer from mileage or a lack of motivation especially after losing so easily to Kiki Bertens in the aforementioned final in Russia’s second city. The rising Kazakh kept rolling to quarters in her tournament debut, following up that big win over Kenin with a straight sets victory over Katerina Siniakova in the second round.
Karolina Pliskova v Elena Rybakina Predictions & Tips
We had expected Pliskova to struggle against Mladenovic at least for a set given the Frenchwoman’s previous win in Dubai against the Czech and how close the second set of the Australian Open match was.
However, despite playing in second gear for much of the afternoon, Pliskova still managed to produce a high quality game to win with ease. The second seed will face quite possibly one of the toughest tests yet against Rybakina. You would assume with her experience and weapons she would likely fend off the Kazakh’s charge, but the Hobart champion seems to flourish playing as an underdog.
Tip: Rybakina to win: 7/4 (Click here to get these odds with Unibet)
You can watch & bet on Pliskova v Rybakina on Thursday, February 20 here. . Get the latest tennis predictions and tips here.
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